Loving the Warm

Too windy to think about riding, but warm enough for shorts and eating lunch on our patio!

It's all good 👍

6 Days on the Road...

...and we're going to sit here in Tucson AZ for a week!

Looking forward to some warm weather, cycling, touristing & eating (of course when you're with Mike and Betty there is great food to be enjoyed).

We started with a warm reunion and BBQ at the RV Park restaurant.

Into the Warm(er)

Another lonely day driving through the Great Basin.

As predicted, it froze again overnight but we were in the 60sF/hi teensC by the time we arrived for the night in Boulder City NV (south of Las Vegas, close to Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam).

We had time to wash all the road slop off the rig (not a small job!), eat a light meal and then rolled into bed! It seemed like a long day.

Spoke with our cycling friends Mike and Betty and have arranged to meet up with them tomorrow for a week in Tucson.

Finally Above Freezing

We are in Ely, NV tonight.

It was smooth sailing through the agricultural areas of southern Idaho and then into the emptiness of the Great Basin Desert of northern Nevada. We started the morning in Idaho Falls at 14F/-10C (brrrr!) but eventually temps rose to 44F/7C - positively balmy 😉 It's supposed freeze again overnight.

Still planning our destination for tomorrow....

Finally a Good Day 👌

• Dry Roads

• Tailwind

Plans Changed

Glad this day is over.

Our morning started with calm dry roads and weather. Between Chain Lakes and here (Helena MT) we experienced some stressful wet/snowy/icy roads at midday (Cardston AB to Browning MT) and finished our day on dry roads.

So, even though we thought we were travelling West, our Oregon friend suffered a fall and hoped we could visit another time. That news, along with the fire disruptions in California, convinced us we should continue south as per ususal. Still hope to catch Death Valley (west of Las Vegas) on our way home from Arizona.

Stay Tuned!

Didn't Get Far

Our drive started with calm, bright skies and dry roads.

Bye, bye, Calgary & the Rockies!

Just S of Calgary we started getting dangerously high winds; we came off the road about 1pm at the Chain Lakes Provincial Park and stayed the night. The wind warning sign at the park gave a digital readout of 148 kph / ~90 mph. As our daughter said, "Yikes!"

A good samaritan vehicle followed us in to the park just to tell us that there were several rollovers ahead on the highway and that we should stop driving. We did!

Our 15th Year of Winter in the South is About to Begin!

We consider ourselves fortunate to, once again, be able to travel south so that we might spend our winter cycling and hiking! We plan to leave Friday, October 25th.

We have a little tour planned for the drive to Apache Junction, AZ; we are visiting Loma Linda "grads" (Bill was treated for prostate cancer with these men in the winter of 2008) in Oregon and California. Then we'll head east stopping to explore Bakersfield and Death Valley and finally to meet up with Bill's sister Joan and brother-in-law Barrie who have a week planned in Scottsdale (Phoenix) starting November 15th.

Although the summer was not the warmest, we enjoyed lots of music events, cycling and socializing, and the highlight of camping with both grandboys (Zach, 6 and Magnus, 2) for two days in early July. We also had 5 days of camping in Brooks with Zach visiting the Alberta Bird of Prey Foundation* in Coaldale and the Dinosaur Provincial Park during that time.

Here are some brag photos:

Zach meets an owl face to face

Camping with "the boys" at Chain Lakes

Joined for the day by our fine neighbours Dave & Barb

 and their two grandchildren 

Grandma & Magnus dressed like twins

during our "5 Days in October" adventure.

(Their parents, our daughter Janine, and husband Colin, 

were celebrating his 40th with a trip to Vancouver Island.) 

Not really brag-worthy...

but Rose Lynn celebrated 70 with a very special cake arranged by Bill

*

The Alberta Birds of Prey Foundation, located in Coaldale, AB, is a privately licensed raptor rescue and conservation organization whose mission is to preserve and protect wildlife, educate the public, and to conserve nature by rehabilitating and releasing injured birds of prey back to the wild.

They also participate in captive breeding and release of endangered species, such as Burrowing Owls, study and monitor wild birds of prey populations and encourage positive habitat stewardship through increased public environmental awareness.